I am going to say something unusual for me and praise actions taken by this Government. Its promotion of a United Nation's resolution which states that it is in the interest of humanity that nuclear weapons never be used again under any circumstances is both rational…
There's a fairly straightforward and informative interview on Stuff today, providing an insight into Russel Norman's outlook on life. Prior to this I had been more familiar with Metiria Turei's working class background - something that has informed and motivated her campaign against child poverty…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
There wouldn't be one of China's billion and a half citizens who thought that Judith Collins' dinner with the Chinese official who was a "close personal friend" of Collins' close personal friend Oravida chairman Stone Shi wasn't about obtaining advantage for Oravida. That's the way…
I just stumbled across an alternative film club in West Auckland; The Peasants Film Club. On it's Facebook page it says this: The greatest threat to freedom and well-being everywhere is corporate ambition: the greatest threat to corporate ambition is a well-informed public I came…
OK six months ago Shane Jones’ political career was going nowhere. Watching porn on the country’s credit card is not a good look and people have not forgotten this. He was very entertaining during the Labour leadership campaign and made many people smile. There should…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Sorry to hear that Tony Benn has died today, at age 88. When I lived in England, I never quite understood why he was considered such an (unacceptable) "radical". With his distinctive sh sound, his animated speech, and lively mind, he always seemed to me…
Yesterday one woman’s story blew the lid on our government’s treatment of beneficiaries. Sarah Wilson’s post on her ongoing struggles just to get Work and Income to do their job properly and give her the support she needs went viral, and as the comments flooded…
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Initiative and its Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich. Oliver it’s great to be here with you today - and I know this group greatly values the open contest of ideas.…
This statement has been reposted from ImperatorFish and is believed to be a work of satire by Scott Yorke (who generously allows us to reproduce his posts). However with Shane Jones, one can never be too sure what is truth and what is fantasy. I’ve…
The original of this post is here at No Right Turn. The latest NSALeak: the NSA is deliberately spreading malware on a massive scale to spy on everyone: Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers…
The details of the share float have now been announced. According to stuff: The Government has poured sugar on its offer of shares in Genesis Energy, pricing the company in a range below analyst valuations last month and offering a bonus share for every 15…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
From Rob Salmond at Polity, this post on an interesting graph. Here's a pretty astounding graphic from the US about cellphone vs landline use, via Anzalone Lizst Grove Research: The US is a few years ahead of New Zealand on mobile adoption and decoupling from landlines,…
The original of this post appeared here at Local Bodies on Monday. It got overshadowed in the news cycle by burst of corrupt stench of self-entitled elitist behaviour from National, but is worth reposting anyway. bsprout (aka Dave Kennedy) is the Green candidate for Invercargill.…
International, cronyist, corporate capitalism skews democratic processes in NZ, making it harder for the majority of battling Kiwis to get a fair go - harder to ensure all New Zealanders live in a society that works for them. And in such a society, it's hardest…
Just a wee list to try and keep track of the current scandals our dear friends in the National party are dealing with: Judith's milk problem (why does the self-styled 'Crusher' keep hiding from any parliamentary debate?) Amy's farming difficulty National Party families at the…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
So the latest from National is Judith Collins 'promoting' her husband's company and Amy Adams promoting the interests of river-polluting Canterbury dairy farms when she herself owns Canterbury dairy farms. Naturally, neither minister can see any problem with this and so the take-home message from…
The continuing revelations coming from Edward Snowden have revealed that internationally linked state surveillance, dominated by the US NSA (National Security Agency) has become intensive, pervasive, and somewhat devious. This is to be expected in the shadowy world of state run espionage. Some of this…
If Judith Collins' difficulties with endorsing promoting while overseas on a Ministerial Trip the products of a firm of which her husband is a director and which has given significant amounts of money to the National Party was bad enough there is breaking news which…
No Right Turn as usual was correct and John Key was wrong. The original of this post is here. Last week I argued strongly that we needed full transparency over Cabinet Office advice on ministers' conflicts of interest, because we couldn't trust the Prime Minister to…
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. Let me explain. There has been no breach of Cabinet rules. This has been confirmed by the Cabinet Office. Not the real…
Rob Salmond at Polity sharpened the needle for John Key here The Orivida mess smells worse by the day for National. Yesterday, it turned out the Cabinet Office's advice clearing Judith Collins of any wrongdoing had failed to even look at the most important piece…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Of course it could be that John Key announced the election yesterday to divert attention from the press release from Treasury today. The deficit was $637 million dollars bigger than expected. In fact it was more than double the expected size. Why? Well mostly because of…